The era of provocative girls, the (not very) sustainable practices of H&M and Coca-Cola, silent employees and the personality traits of a leader. We have collected our most-read stories of the year.
Before we wrap up 2022, we went back and looked at what you, our precious readers, were most interested in this year.
Coming in at number one, we have two-year-old article from our “philosopher-in-residence” Øyvind Kvalnes on a timeless topic: Tempo, trolling and tricky role confusions leave social media officers with digital dilemmas. How should they deal with them?
“Increased activities in social media and rapid publication create a range of dilemmas for decisions-makers within organizations, where they must prioritize conflicting ethical considerations.”
Our second-most-read story of the year discusses the problem of fast fashion. Written by BI students Torger Dyrnes, Herman Rognaldsen, Martine K. Nilsen and Vy H. Nguyen, this article also won BI’s Opinion Essay Competition in 2021.
“Despite efforts to become “greener”, the fast-fashion pioneer does not genuinely contribute to a sustainable future. The problem lies within its core operating business model.”
Rounding out our top three is a seven-year-old article from Christine Myrvang on a 100-year-old phenomenon.
“Through behaviour and appearance, these girls challenged the boundaries between sexes. It was a form of youth rebellion, a project of liberation, and it didn’t go unnoticed.”
Our readers also enjoyed reading about a study of 33 countries on why employees don’t speak up. In the article, Sut I Wong describes four main reasons why employees choose to keep quiet.
“Some employees keep quiet because they don’t believe leaders and others are interested in what they have to say or are responsive to it.”
Next on our list is an article from BI’s Gabriel R.G. Benito on what drives the companies that decides to expand outside their home markets.
“Location choices are idiosyncratic and there is evidence that companies make decisions based on remarkably simple sources of information, such as media coverage unrelated to the business opportunities of the location.”
Two years after it was originally published, our readers still want to read Ole-Kristian Hope and John Christian Langli’s article on why EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC give the best audits.
“Using unique and confidential data from Norway, we were able to isolate the audit firm effect by keeping the pairs of clients and partners constant while varying their audit firm affiliation. Specifically, we analysed pairs of auditees and partners that switched from a non-Big Four firm to a Big Four firm.”
Coca-Cola is claiming to address the plastic crisis with circular solutions, but are they really that sustainable? BI students Chi Quynh Tran, Hau Hai Nguyen and Léa Ermini investigated this question in an article, which won the runner-up prize in BI’s Opinion Essay Competition in 2021.
“The launch of Coca-Cola’s new bottles made from ocean plastic turned out to be nothing but a greenwashing tool. Instead of investing further and making marketing campaigns out of this, Coca-Cola should start to deal with the core problem – their overproduction of throwaway bottles.”
Coming in at number eight is the oldest article on our top 10 list this year, a 2014 article from Øyvind Lund Martinsen which details why the best leaders are in the public sector and that female leaders are better suited for management than men.
“For leaders, personality plays an even bigger role than for many other professions.”
The next article on the list, from BI’s Ragnhild Silkoset, deals with how governments and businesses used influence, persuasion and communication during the pandemic.
“Active use of role models with integrity, trust and commitment are constructive options to change people's behavior in the current demanding situation.”
Rounding out this year’s most-read list is another award-winning article from BI students. Tianyi Zhu, Nicolette Conradis, Katarina Ugland and Maria Elena Martelli won BI’s Opinion Essay Competition in 2022 with this article on whether an inherently “bad” company can positively contribute towards a sustainable future or not.
“What if Philip Morris’ promotion of a sustainable smoke-free future is merely a strategy to escape the inevitable end of the tobacco industry itself by creating a new profitable segment for the remaining years?”
Published 21. December 2022